Code Name: Shaz

When Shahzana was in school, she had no interest in computers. She didn’t even know what a programming language is. Her dream was to work as Human Resource Manager in the Tourism industry, but the job was said to be difficult for a girl to do.

Her father suggested that she get into graphic design. Shahzana enquired at the university and found that there was a course in graphic design with programming. It seemed like the best option, and Shahzana enrolled for that course and, to her nightmare, her first lecture was in C++, a programming language. To add to her misery, she had her classes starting at 8 a.m on Saturday and lasting for 3 hours. To date, she still doesn’t know how she managed to see it through and pass her exams.

Things started to change when she had her Web Design classes. In one of her assignments, she had to design a page in Html. It gave her a special thrill to see her work appear on the screen the way she wanted it. It appealed to the control freak in her.

From then on, Shahzana started developing a liking for the subject and would try doing things by herself. Still, she did not feel confident that she would be able to make it as a web designer and, instead, applied as a graphic designer intern.

During her last year at the university, Shahzana got a proposal from a small studio to join as an intern for web design. She pondered over it, hesitated before finally accepting the offer. She was surprised to see that, even though she was only an intern, she had enough skills to do the job. She ended up staying at the company for one and a half years. Over that time, she learned a lot from the job, from her teammates, and through her efforts. She later moved to another company and kept on learning new technologies and new programming languages to design dynamic pages.

After four years of work experience, she finally took a leap of faith and joined Ducorp as a Web designer.

Shahzana often comes across people who are surprised to learn about her job. They say that Web Design is a man’s job and that girls don’t know how to code. But Shahzana, the only daughter of a traditional yet very much open-minded family, has always been a rebel. She finds a particular satisfaction proving the naysayers wrong by doing the job that she loves.

Ducorp XTM; 2019.